


The Color of the Night

by DazzleYourMindsEye



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, RWBY
Genre: Character Death, Dragons, F/F, Game of Thrones AU, NO rape, No Incest, No one from the main cast though, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sexual Content, We've got a full cast here guys, this is waaay darker than anything I've written so far, we're just going to cut out all that icky stuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:54:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24034636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DazzleYourMindsEye/pseuds/DazzleYourMindsEye
Summary: A daughter who desperately wants to live up to her family's name. An isolated princess who shapes her own destiny. A bastard with something to prove. And an exile returned to claim her birthright.The Game of Thrones continues in Westeros, but a new threat has made itself known from beyond the Wall. Can the feuding kingdoms come together before the world falls into darkness?
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Comments: 8
Kudos: 67





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> *whew* Okay guys I really wanted to save this one for when I finish Wings of Gold and Summer's Place, but this idea would NOT leave me alone. This is going to be an ambitious project, and I probably won't be able to update as often as I would like (with my other projects and the Big Bang coming up) but I'm really looking forward to this one, folks!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!

The cold, silent forest beyond The Wall felt… _strange_.

Raven Branwen, Commander of the Night’s Watch, sat atop her large black stallion, listening. In her few ventures beyond The Wall, the forest had always felt like any other – even locked in eternal snow and ice.

But today, something felt… off.

At her side Vernal’s horse chewed on the bit and shift from one leg to the other, the crunch of the snow beneath hooves cracking like breaking glass in the stillness of the forest.

Raven threw a sharp glance at Vernal, who only shrugged. Raven strained her ears, but there was nothing, not even the songs of the few birds that nested this far north.

After another, tense silence, Raven finally relaxed into her saddle. “I guess it was nothing.”

Vernal snorted. “You’re hearing things in your old age, Branwen.”

Raven glared at Vernal, but the lieutenant only smirked. Raven frowned, but turned her glare back to the silent trees. Vernal knew that her insubordination would only be tolerated when they were alone like this, and her lieutenant had been with the Night’s Watch almost as long as Raven herself.

Raven tugged her horse’s bridle to turn it around. “Let’s head back. I don’t like the feel of this.”

Vernal didn’t argue and turned her horse to follow her commander, when a sharp _CRACK_ sounded through the forest, much louder than it should have been in the muffled snow.

Raven automatically drew her sword, and heard the click of Vernal drawing her crossbow.

A human figure stumbled from the tree line, collapsing to its knees in the snow. Vernal aimed her crossbow, but Raven held her hand up, staying her lieutenant’s bolt. “Hold. It’s a Wildling.”

The Commander dismounted and approached the hunched figure. She eyed the alarming amount of blood, bright red against the stark brightness of the snow. The figure wheezed in pain and fell to its side, clutching at its chest.

Raven could now see it was a young Wildling woman, deep slash marks across her abdomen and chest soaking her simple clothing in red. Her eyes suddenly shot open, and she seized the fur collar of Raven’s coat in a surprisingly strong grip.

“ _It’s… coming…_ ” The woman gasped, blood dribbling from her lips down her chin.

“What?” Raven gripped the woman’s wrist. “What’s coming?”

“ _Those... burning r_ _ed eyes...we thought it was d-dead… t-tore them apart_ ….” The Wildling coughed wetly. Her eyes rolled back in her head, showing white.

A deep guttural howl echoed through the trees, splitting the silence.

Like a sound straight from the depths of Hell.

The Wildling’s eyes widened in terror and she clutched at Raven’s coat, smearing the leather with blood. Raven wrenched away, brandishing her sword and backing slowly towards her skittish horse.

“Vernal...”

“I heard it.” Vernal raised her crossbow, sighting along the treeline.

The only sound was the wet coughing and whimpering of the Wildling woman. Raven reached her horse’s side and slowly grabbed its bridle. The horse danced in place, ears pinned flat and eyes showing white.

Then, the sound of _something_ big staggering unsteadily through the woods.

Irregular panting.

Branches snapping.

Raven had very rarely felt fear in her life before, having long given up anything that could have made her feel that emotion.

But the _creature_ that emerged from the treeline truly chilled her blood.

It stood on two legs, taller than any man, heavily muscled beneath its oily black hide. Fur rotted away to reveal a stark white skull and razor sharp fangs as long as a human hand from wrist to fingertip revealed in a horrific grin. Tall pointed ears, perked up in a horrifying parody of a well trained dog at its master’s heel. Long arms with hand-like paws tipped with bloody claws. Bony protrusions erupted from its back, leaving it with a hunched posture.

But its _eyes…_ the eyes were the worst part.

Glowing like twin flames, blood red and penetrating like a sharpened dagger.

“By the _gods_...”

Raven had never heard that tone in Vernal’s voice before, a tone of pure fear.

The beast exhaled with a rumbling growl, its hot breath misting in a cloud around its head and its jaws creaking open at an unnatural angle.

The Wildling woman at the beast’s feet whimpered in terror and attempted to crawl toward Raven and Vernal, the snow steaming around her as it melted from her hot blood.

The beast noticed the woman and it cocked its head like a curious hound. A rotten tongue lolled out of its pale grinning jaws. Raven felt nausea roll up in her throat as it bent down and lapped at the bloody snow.

“ _H-help_ … _please_...” The Wildling woman stretched out a blood soaked hand toward Raven and Vernal. Raven hesitated, her horse getting more agitated. But before anything could be done the beast leapt the short distance the woman had managed to crawl and sunk its claws into her back. The woman screamed, cut short with a wet crunch as the beast’s jaws snapped shut.

Raven felt like her boots were frozen to the snow as the beast slowly raised its head, blood dripping from it open maw.

“COMMANDER!” Vernal’s voice finally cut through the fog and the beast _roared_ , loud enough to shake the nearby tree branches.

The horses screamed, and Raven vaulted onto her steeds back. The horse reared, eyes rolled back in terror.

“GO! BACK TO THE WALL!” Raven kicked her horse in the sides and it took off at a full gallop back in the direction they came from, not looking behind to see if Vernal had followed her.

* * *

The beast watched the two humans flee, legs tensing to give chase. _Prey_ …

_Let them go_.

The beast shrank back at the command. _Mistress…_

_They will tell others. Let them_ _know_ _**fear.** _

The beast sniffed the air, nearly tasting the human’s fear in the wind, and it shuddered in pleasure. _Fear_...

_The fear will_ _spread_ _. More fear to_ _**feed** _ _you. Then we will_ _**strike** _ _._

The beast’s ears perked up, and its tail started to wag like a joyful hound. _Yes, Mistress._

_Return._

_Yes, Mistress._ The beast clumsily gripped the dead human’s leg and faded back into the trees dragging the body behind it.


	2. Yang

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHELP
> 
> It's been a time and a half since I updated this, hasn't it? But rest assured, I have no plans to abandon this fic! But I do want to give it the attention it deserves, so updates might be a bit on the slow side (hopefully not seven months lol). I only hope that I can make it worth all y'alls while! 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, and I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy out there!

The forest of the far North slept quiet beneath its blanket of snow.

Quiet broken by the rustle of leaves, branches pushed aside by a round white hare. The hare’s ears twitched, listening. When nothing alerted it, the hare hopped further out into the clearing, eyeing a tuft of brown grass sticking out of the snow.

But thundering of distant hooves broke the silence, and the hare froze. An enormous golden horse burst from the trees on the edge of the clearing and tore through the snow like it was parting water. The hare darted back into the bushes, well clear of heavy hooves.

Yang threw her head back in a laugh, the icy air whipping through her long golden hair like stroking hands. Her shaggy steed tossed his mighty head as if in joy as well and lengthened his stride, all but flying across the land.

Yang clicked her tongue and Solaris obediently bunched his haunches and smoothly leapt over a frozen stream. The stallion’s breath blew heavy and his sides heaved with exertion, and Yang felt each breath.

Her face stung and her grip on the reins had gone numb some several frozen creeks back, but this was where she felt most alive. Here in the cold woods she loved.

Yang began to recognize the forest around her and the golden stallion beneath her seemed to as well, as he slowed to a canter, then a trot as the familiar stone walls of Winterfell rose over the hill to greet them.

A thunder of hooves sounded behind, and Ruby rode up to Yang’s side on her rusty gray gelding.

“You – you _cheater!_ ” Ruby panted, pointing an accusing finger in Yang’s direction like a spear. “You said go on _three_!”

Yang shrugged and lifted her chin. “Yes, well everybody knows when they say that they really mean two.”

Ruby scowled. “No they don’t, you _cheater_. They mean _three_.”

“I won anyway, so there.” Yang indulged in moment of childishness and stuck her tongue out at her sister, who returned the gesture.

Ruby didn’t let up with her pouting and protests as they approached the gates and the shouts of guards atop the battlements made the heavy doors creak open.

Almost in sync the two sisters dismounted their horses as the stable hands took reins and bowed to them both. Slightly deeper towards Ruby, Yang couldn’t help but notice – but she’d long gotten used to that.

Ruby was still grumbling under her breath when she stopped and stared. Yang followed her gaze to spot a small group of unfamiliar horses, all without riders. A few men in dark cloaks lingered by them and spoke closely to one another. Yang could see no house banner or any other distinguishing marks upon them.

“Who are they?” As usual Ruby voiced Yang’s unspoken question.

“I don’t know.” Yang frowned as they passed the men to enter the castle. The men did not look up to acknowledge either girl.

“Here to see mother, you think? From the king?”

“They would be dressed like messengers from the king, then.” Yang pulled her fur-line cloak from her throat and tucked it over her arm. As usual the air inside Winterfell was a good deal warmer than the air outside, and the heat quickly became stifling. “You know how King Nicholas likes his fanfare.”

Ruby hid her giggle behind her palm. “Don’t let mother hear you say that."

Yang used her superior reach to quickly ruffle Ruby’s hair. “Alright you go get cleaned up for dinner, before I get scolded for letting you ride through that geyser field.”

Ruby made a noise of dissent and ducked out from her sister’s hand. “I’ll just say we didn’t know it was there.”

“Like father will believe that.” Yang shoved her sister toward the family quarters wing. “Go. I’ll let mother know you didn’t fall in a snowbank.”

“That was _once!_ ” Ruby rolled her eyes but walked off in a fast clip towards her quarters.

Yang smiled after her.

Despite not being born within its walls like her sister, Winterfell had always felt like home since she was a small girl first crossing its threshold. The gray stone walls, the warm fireplaces and colorful tapestries of events and ancestors that weren’t hers yet felt like family.

She supposed the Rose’s were the closest she had to family. She knew she and her father were the last of a disgraced line – Xiao Long, the Little Dragons.

Once close allies to the golden-eyed Great Dragon Kings, upon their defeat and the installation of the Schnee bloodline on the throne suddenly the little dragons were traitors, stripped of their titles and lands even after being nearly wiped out in the war for a throne Yang had never laid eyes on.

Of course, she knew only stories of her father’s bloodline, spoken like a curse and spat upon the ground. By marrying into the Rose family her father had gained a small amount of his own honor back.

But Yang? Yang was still a bastard.

Tai never spoke of her mother. After years of asking and never receiving an answer, Yang just accepted that she was either dead or a nameless whore, like so many other bastards she’d known.

She still remembered meeting Summer Rose for the first time. The Rose of the North was just as beautiful as the stories claimed. A woman who was Ward of the North and Hand of the King and quite deserving of both titles, in Yang’s opinion.

But her titles didn’t mean anything to a lost little girl wrapped in a too-big coat, clinging to her father’s cloak. Instead it was her warm smile, the way she knelt in the snow disregarding her pretty dress and spoke to Yang like an equal.

The way she’d so readily called her “daughter” even if only in private company. The way Yang had felt a mother’s embrace for the first time in her young life.

But something still nagged at the back of her mind. She wasn’t blind to the way strangers looked at her. She’d never visited King’s Landing, and Summer would exchange a long look with Tai the few times she’d inquired about seeing the grand city she’d heard stories of.

Her golden hair and violet eyes marked her as a traitor of a war she hadn’t been alive to see, one that her father had been scarcely more than a boy when it scarred the land in fire and blood.

There were no more dragons left. Yang was the last of her kind and acutely aware of it.

The familiar crest of the Rose family carved on the personal office of the Ward of the North came into view as she rounded the corner and Yang sighed while shifting the heavy cloak in her arms. Perhaps she should have stopped by her quarters first…

Muffled voices emanating from the closed door made her freeze. Still too far away to hear exact words, but the tone was unmistakable. _Anger._

Suddenly really wishing she’d stopped by her room (perhaps to retrieve her sword that she’d so far done nothing more than train with) Yang lightened her steps. Telling herself that she wasn’t eavesdropping, she was making sure her mother was safe, she carefully pressed her ear to the door.

“I’m telling you, I know what I saw.” An unknown woman’s voice, simmering with anger.

“And all I’m saying is that there’s a chance you were mistaken. A starving wolf, a bear gone mad with sickness -” Summer.

A sudden loud thud, like a fist onto wood. “This was no _bear_ , Summer. It stood taller than any bear I’ve seen, and its eyes glowed with the fire of hell.”

A familiar sigh. “The Night Queen is a myth. Or at least that’s what the entirety of Westeros believes. I can’t just go to the king with no real evidence but _your_ word.”

Rhythmic thuds. Footsteps, pacing.

“Then you must _make_ him listen. You are the only one who has even a chance of convincing Nicholas that this is a real threat.”

“ _I_ don’t even know if this is a real threat.”

The pacing stops.

“Summer. Do you really believe that I would come _here_ if I didn’t have a reason as serious as this?”

Silence. Yang strained her ears.

“No. I don’t think you would.” Summer’s voice was almost too quiet to hear.

A scoff. The pacing resumes.

“I know how this sounds, Summer. Believe me, I do. If you had come to me with such a story I’d be just as skeptical. But something tells me that… this is more than just a fluke. _Something_ is coming, and we are _woefully_ unprepared.”

Silence again, this time with a heaviness that lingered.

“Alright. I’ll… I’ll talk to him. He’s summoned me to King’s Landing for a personal matter and I’ll be leaving on the morrow.”

“Good.”

A chair scraped across the floor. The rustling of paper. “Are you sure I can’t persuade you to stay for the evening meal?”

“No. You know why I can’t.” The woman’s voice was solid and cold as stone.

Another sigh. “I suppose it was worth a try.”

Yang stumbled back from the door several steps just in time before it was wrenched open. The first thing she noticed was the deep black cloak, worn even in the warm castle walls. Tall and imposing, the woman before her froze in the act of stepping through the threshold and stared with dark burgundy eyes.

“Yang.” Summer pushed past the dark woman to take hold of Yang’s shoulders. “My dear, you’re back early. Where’s your sister?”

“Yes, we… we took a shortcut on the way back.” Yang blinked and looked away from the strange woman’s unblinking gaze still staring into her own. “Ruby is in her room getting ready for dinner.”

“Ah good good. You should go wash up as well, we were just finishing up here.” Summer exchanged a look that Yang couldn’t read with the woman in the doorway.

The woman cleared her throat and brushed invisible dust from her cloak. “Yes, well. I need to get back to my men. Remember what I said, Summer.”

“Yes, of course.” Summer gently steered Yang away, back down the corridor. “I trust you can see yourself out.”

Yang felt the woman’s gaze lingering on her even as Summer steered her around a corner and out of sight.

“Who was that?” said Yang.

Summer frowned slightly before answering. “No one, dear. Just a past acquaintance here to talk about a personal matter.”

Uneasiness stirred inside Yang. The words she’d heard in the office didn’t sound like personal business.

“Are you sure? You both sounded… strained.”

Summer’s frown deepened. “How much did you hear?”

Yang panicked for a brief second, and the next words that came out of her mouth spilled out without her permission. “Not much. Just a lot of shouting.”

Summer clearly relaxed, and they slowed to a stop before Yang’s door. “It’s nothing you need to concern yourself with, dear.”

Summer seemed to look her over for the first time, and she chuckled. “Don’t tell me you two have been playing in the geyser fields again.”

Yang glanced down at the dried mud and melted snow on her boots. “Well, I won’t say we _didn’t_ …”

Summer just sighed and shook her head. “Dinner is in an hour, and I expect your shoes to be free of mud.”

“Yes mother.” Yang couldn’t help a smile. Summer stood on the tips of her toes to press a gentle kiss to her forehead.

Yang frowned when the door shut and she was alone in her room. What were Summer and that mysterious woman talking about? And who was she? That woman had seemed oddly familiar to her, but Yang couldn’t quite put her finger on why.

Her thoughts remained preoccupied even through dinner, listening to Ruby excitedly babble about her day to their mother and father, about her lessons and how they were going.

She’d feigned surprise at Summer’s announcement that she was going to the capitol for a few weeks, but didn’t think she was too successful, as Summer eyed her even as Ruby loudly expressed dismay.

When she lay awake that night – staring up at the canopy of her bed – the shadows seemed darker and more menacing than they should have been.


End file.
